David Z. Scheffel was a professor of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

Thompson Rivers University Thompson Rivers University (commonly referred to as TRU) is a public teaching and research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees and vocational training. Its main campus is in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and its name c ...

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada.

Biography

Born in former Czechoslovakia in , he emigrated in August 1968 after the Soviet invasion with his parents and sister to Austria. Scheffel earned degrees in Canada in anthropology, culminating in his doctorate from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

in 1988. His main areas of interest in the last couple of decades is ethnology studies of the

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

in Europe. Scheffel is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including ''In the Shadow of Antichrist'' (Broadview Press, 1991), a work on the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

breakaway

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...

sect in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Scheffel's efforts to help impoverished Roma rebuild their community in the Slovakian village of

Svinia Svinia ( hu, Szinye) is a village of some 1,500 people (as of 2005) in eastern Slovakia about west from Prešov. The village covers an area of . Svinia is located in the Šariš Highlands in the valley of Veľká and Mala Svinka. The village is ...

is the subject of a 1998 documentary film, ''

The Gypsies of Svinia ''The Gypsies of Svinia '' is a 1998 documentary film about the Roma population in Svinia, Slovakia. The film documents the people within the community, and follows David Scheffel, a Canadian anthropologist, as he attempts to gain the support of ch ...

''. He is also the author of the 2005 study ''Svinia in Black and White: Slovak Roma and their Neighbours'' (University of Toronto Press). In June 2019, a Slovakian court in

Prešov Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...

found Scheffel guilty of sexual abuse and illegal weapon possession and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The verdict remains under appeal.

Books

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheffel, David Living people Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Canadian anthropologists McMaster University alumni Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni University of Manitoba alumni Romani activists Romani advocacy 1955 births